SIMIC

Sea-Intelligence's Blank Sailings Tracker looked at how the carriers were reacting (in terms of blanking sailings) to the collapse of demand, especially of the imports to North America and Europe during week 42-52.

"There have been 34 additional blank sailings on Asia-North America West Coast, and 16 on Asia-North America East Coast," said Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence.

On the Asia-North America West Coast trade lane, carriers announced an extra 7-11 blank sailings in all but 5 weeks of the analyzed period. However, for weeks 51 and 52, carriers have scheduled no blank sailings on the same trade lane, "which is a reflection of the carriers' indecision as to how to approach the potential pre-Chinese New Year rush". It appears more to be a wait-and-see approach, in terms of whether there will be a seasonal demand spike, the report said.

"On Asia-Europe however, we don't see a similar trend, with Asia-North Europe only seeing an additional 6 blank sailings, and Asia-Mediterranean seeing an additional 4 blank sailings," Mr Murphy said.